Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Soul of Asia

On my first visit to Phuket I attended an art showing in town. Many local artists were on hand to show attendees their pieces. One piece in particular stuck with me- it showed 3 monks walking to temple. To my dismay the artists was not present, so I took a picture of the artwork in hopes to one day come back and buy it or at least find it online. That was in 2004. Unfortunately I had no luck finding the piece online and my husband even contacted several Asian art houses and they couldn't help us either. I decided to put the photo in a frame, hung it in my hallway, and get constant comments on how beautiful it is.

So when we decided to go back to Phuket, I was was determined to find this artist! We asked around and our hotel directed us to the Soul of Asia (SOA) gallery. There are 6 SOA galleries in Phuket, the main gallery being in the center of the old town. Jay and I decided we would rent a car for the day to check out the gallery and do a little sightseeing. Since Thai's drive on the wrong side of the road ;) and don't pay much attention to stop signs or lights, Jay was let's say a bit...trepidatious to drive. The alternative was to pay a tuk tuk driver to take us around for the day and that was more expensive. We had the car delivered to the hotel, hopped in the Honda Jazz (so fitting) and zoomed around town.

After almost 2 small panic attacks later we reached our destination. At first it looked closed, and I thought Jay was going to kill me, but luckily as we reached for the door it opened. The gallery was filled with Buddha statues, antique furniture, and paintings. I made a B-line to the back where I noticed a painting that looked very familiar...not the one I have a photo of, but one similar. The artist is Nguyen Minh Phuoc, a Vietnamese artist who's work has been shown all over the world. His paintings show the daily lives of monks clothed in their infamous saffron colored robes. Along with being spiritual they are also luminescent and tranquil, a perfect piece to place in your meditation or yoga room. Here are some selected works from the artist.